Parshas Vayechi

Investing in Another Jew

By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig

When Yaakov (Jacob) blessed his sons before his death, he made reference to
the partnership between Yissachar and Zevulun. He blessed Zevulun
(Beraishis/Genesis 49:13) that he would dwell by the seashores where his
commerce would enable him to provide for Yissachar, who would spend his
time studying Torah.

The Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni 161) teaches us that since Zevulun facilitated
Yissachar's Torah study, he was entitled to an equal share of its reward in
the World to Come. Why is this so? If Zevulun could earn a large sum of
money with comparatively less effort than that exerted by Yissachar in his
Torah study, why should Zevulun still be considered an equal partner rather
than a secondary one? Similarly, the Talmud (Brachos 17a), expounding on
the concept that women merit a greater portion in the World to Come than do
men, asks how women merit that portion. The Talmud answers that they earn
this reward by taking their children to the synagogue to study and
encouraging and enabling their husbands to study. But women are obviously
no less capable of performing their own mitzvos than men; why do they gain
their reward through others? And why does that yield them a greater
portion?

A person's act of selfless giving of himself to facilitate the growth of
someone else is greater in G-d's eyes than his striving for his own
personal growth. The investment of a significant period of time and effort
to study Torah is very precious to G-d, but at the same time the student
experiences the joys of Torah study as well as the growth from the
acquired knowledge and character refinement. But a person who supports
the study of another - whether he invests money, energy or love - does not
experience the pleasure and does not grow from the insights, but he gives
of himself in this same mitzvah nonetheless. Thus, Zevulun, like the
loving wife and mother, earns an equal share of the reward for Yissachar's
Torah study.